In the latest slaying, a gunman riding a bicycle shot a 21-year-old in the head on a rear porch behind the victim's home in the 700 block of East 50th Street in the Bronzeville neighborhood just before 9 p.m., according to early police reports.

The man, Freddie Williams, was dead at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Earlier in the day, gunman shot a 49-year-old South Side man at least twice at about 5:30 p.m. on the 2800 block of West Wilcox Street in the East Garfield Park on the West Side, police said.

The victim was wounded in the abdomen and had been taken to Stroger Hospital of Cook County in critical condition, but he was pronounced there soon after arrival, police said.

The man was identified as Howard Hill, of the 7200 block of South Sangamon Street in the city's Englewood neighborhood, a medical examiner's spokesman said.

Police weren't able to get a good description of the shooter and were still trying to determine the motive for the slaying.

Hill was released from the Western Illinois Correctional Center on parole last February for a felony retail theft conviction, one of at least five on his criminal record, according to state records.

The fatal shootings continue to push the city's homicide numbers for August higher after tying then surpassing last year's murder numbers for the same month. The victims have included those with criminal backgrounds, as well as innocent bystanders, police have said.